Wombat nicknamed Ian Thorpe after being rescued from Canberra lake

December 10, 2023 6:23 PM

Wombat nicknamed Ian Thorpe after being rescued from a Canberra lake by a woman in a kayak. A wombat earns the nickname, Ian Thorpe, after swimming for nearly 40 minutes before being rescued by a woman in a kayak from Yerrabi Pond in Canberra's north after a thunderstorm.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (5 comments total)

After I read the article I was a little worried for Ian's prognosis, but some quick Googling turned up this Facebook post which made me hopeful!
posted by sigmagalator at 7:04 PM on December 10, 2023 [7 favorites]

The middle of a lake seems like a burrowing creature’s worst nightmare. None of your tools are relevant….
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:05 PM on December 10, 2023 [7 favorites]

All things considered I feel compelled to point out that Ian was the predominant middle-distance swimmer of his day but Grant Hackett, another Australian, was the miler.

And, jokes aside, his last world record (the short course metres 800 freestyle) was broken this week. Oldest world record on the books too.

That being said, yeah, 40min has got to be all kinds of records for a wombat.
posted by mce at 8:16 PM on December 10, 2023 [4 favorites]

OK, fine. I fired up Chrome to check out the story on Facebook. (Thanks, sigmalator.) And yeah, I got a little teary. Just shut up! Shut up! Dear little wombat.
posted by SPrintF at 11:16 PM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Glad the Iittle chap got rescued! I am a bit surprised that wombats can swim at all. They seem so solid, as if they would sink like a rock when they hit the water.
posted by Fuchsoid at 9:38 AM on December 11, 2023